[V5C22] To Know God
Translated by Jodas 5: The Magic BattleA woman walked down a long, dark corridor.
It was a woman in a nun’s habit with faint blonde hair: the Wedge Tower’s Assistant Headmaster Miriam.
Illuminated by a lantern’s flame, her pale face was like a sculpture: neatly proportioned and utterly unmoving. The only proof that she was a living human were her eyelashes, occasionally moving slowly up and down.
Eventually, she came to a stop before a door at the end of the hall.
Carefully threading a key through the lock, she undid the seals on the door with precise motions, then pulled it open.
Inside, the walls were covered in white wallpaper and gorgeous luxuries.
The room itself was practically designed to embody the ideas of cleanliness and purity. She had made it so.
So that it may be a suitable cradle in which the Daughter of God may rest.
“Fiene.”
Deep inside the room, a girl sitting on a small sofa looked up from the book she was reading.
She had straight black hair, ivory skin, and a white dress.
This was the Daughter of God who knew no impurities. The savior of this nation, Fiene, split her lips into a smile.
“Oh my, Miriam. I thought it wasn’t time for food yet?”
“I have come to present an offering.”
Miriam set her lantern on a table, then slightly raised the basket hanging from her arm.
Fiene craned her neck in a childish manner, looking at the basket.
“Wouldn’t it be better to say ‘I’ve brought you a souvenir’ for something like this? I read it in a book, you know? Souvenirs. What a pleasant custom.”
“Everything presented to the Daughter of God, be it even a single grain of wheat, a drop of milk, or one’s eternal devotion, are all offerings.”
Miriam removed the cloth covering the basket.
Inside were several new books as well as a brand-new feather pen.
Seeing that, Fiene let out an impressed gasp.
“Pretty… so pretty… It reminds me of that girl’s fluffy feathers.”
Miriam was well aware of what Fiene was trying to say.
On top of that, Miriam’s long eyelashes dipped, and she clasped her hands together as if in prayer.
“I understand the burden you must beat as the Daughter of God. Thus, I believe it is my duty to provide my utmost devotion to you.”
“……”
The young girl smiled wordlessly. She was simultaneously childish as a girl her age should be, and tranquil in a way no such girl should be.
In the same voice she used when reading aloud the Bible, Miriam quietly spoke to her.
“There is no replacement for any life. That remains true even for the life of a Monster. Even as God’s teachings tell us Monsters are an absolute evil.”
“You’re saying that’s why that girl… my cute little birdie… won’t come home?”
Miriam had thought of a way to prepare a replacement for Fiene’s little birdie — the multicolored Harpy.
However, nothing could replace a life, no matter what it was.
Once she understood that, Fiene made no attempt to request a replacement. Nevertheless, she stroked the edge of her brand-new feather pen to ease her aching heart.
Long ago, when Fiene had requested a songbird, Miriam was conflicted.
If only the mana density in this room were not so high that an ordinary human wouldn’t be able to survive, then she would have been able to suffice with a canary or a talented singer of a human.
As this room was uninhabitable for all but those with the highest mana resistance, she had no choice but to go for a Harpy.
…That had been Miriam and her associates’ greatest mistake.
That Harpy had broken its bonds and ran away.
However, a Harpy whose flight feathers were clipped would be unable to return to Breakneck Gorge.
If it refused to return to Fiene’s birdcage, then its only option was to wander the land with low mana density until it wasted to death.
“I suppose that Monster was overwhelmed by your mercy, and through that mercy came to know of the existence of God. Then, knowing it was an absolute evil that could never be worthy of God’s love, it chose to leave your presence to end its own life.”
Fiene smiled. Quietly, and beautifully.
With the purity befitting of the Daughter of God.
(You’re wrong, Miriam.)
Fiene’s cute little birdie certainly did not accept the love of the Daughter of God.
The whole time, those amber eyes looked at Fiene with intense hatred burning within.
What Tia loved was the free sky and songs. That was it.
(I never taught that girl anything about God. It was her who taught me about gods. Gods that aren’t the one Miriam and the others worship.)
Tia hated Fiene, but as long as she asked nicely, Tia would sing her a song.
Harpies had an insatiable desire for songs, and knew all sorts of them.
So among the songs Tia sang were those that spoke of dragons as gods, those that worshiped Spirit Gods, and more that praised gods Fiene had never heard of.
For Fiene, who had only been exposed to the teachings of the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy, it was only through Tia’s songs that she came to know of other gods. And know she did.
Tia herself surely never realized how shocking that was to her.
Fiene now knew of gods outside of the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy.
Miriam and the others were not yet aware of this. They must have never expected an accursed Monster to know songs about gods.
Only one person knew of the distortion — the wish that was born within Fiene.
(I miss you, Tia. My cute little birdie.)